My grandfather unofficially changed his first name so his birth certificate has one name while his marriage and death certificates say something totally different. I'm trying to get Italian citizenship but can't because the names are different. According to the Houston embassy, I need to get a letter from a judge or Vital statistics official stating that. Problem is, that they won't give me a letter without me being able to prove it either. It's an endless cycle. Has anyone else ever run into this? Any suggestions?

I am facing a similar problem. My great-grandfather's birth certificate from the state does not match his baptismal, marriage, or death certificates. Because he is deceased, it cannot be changed without a court order according to Vital Records. However, the courthouse has never heard of this type of change and refuses to do it.

It is a "catch 22" as the person at Vital Records told me--in an unusually helpful moment!

Unfortunately, I'm also about 1300 miles away from the Vital Records office that I need to work with so I've been trying to work with them via email and regular mail. You can imagine what kind of cooperation I'm (not) getting. So, I'm at a standstill now. Sounds like you're in the same boat.

Chiara wrote:I am facing a similar problem. My great-grandfather's birth certificate from the state does not match his baptismal, marriage, or death certificates. Because he is deceased, it cannot be changed without a court order according to Vital Records. However, the courthouse has never heard of this type of change and refuses to do it.

It is a "catch 22" as the person at Vital Records told me--in an unusually helpful moment!

Maybe you could just change the rest of his records, and just consider the name on the birth certificate to be his "real" name?

marybary wrote:Good thought, but that will be difficult also because he is deceased. You still have to go through the vital records office to get them changed.

Yes, but you don't need a court order to change those records. I have heard you need a court order to change a death certificate, but there are also cases where they will waive that requirement. I would check it out if I were you!

I had a similar problem with both of my grandparents. Their birth certificates had different first names and birth dates from Italy and the death certificates here did not reflect the correct information. You ned to file an ammendment to change the names on the marriage and death certificates if that is the legal name of your grandfather. You must legally change any discrepency on a birth certificates marriage certificates or death certificates You cannot just change the name on the marriage and death certificate without an ammendment. Unfortunately, you said you are 1300 miles away from the Vital records office where the records reside. I was over 2000 miles away but I went back and had them changed. Since both my grandparents are deceased, I had to ask an aunt of mine to testify that the orignal names were correct as well as the dates. As a grandchild you cannot legally change the documents or get a certified copy of them because only a child can-at least in Wisconsin that is the way it is. So, since my aunt is 88 years only and the only living child of my grandparents (and she doesn't get out of the house) the judge swore her in via telephone and she testififed to the changes. They were approved and now I have the official documentation. It was a lot of organizing but you can ge the date for the cour appearance ahead of time so you know when you need to travel. You could also have another family member do it for you. I had to show the documenation from Italy and then my aunts testimon took care of the rest. They made copies of the original documents from Italy and gave me back the orignals so that worked out as well.